Police in Nepal have violently dispersed a pro-Tibet rally staged outside United Nations headquarters, injuring and arresting several demonstrators. The rally was a show of support from Tibetan refugees in Nepal for their countrymen in the Chinese-controlled Tibetan Autonomous Region. As Liam Cochrane reports from Kathmandu, the U.N. has expressed concern about the use of excessive force at the rally.

Tibetans gathered outside the U.N. headquarters in Kathmandu, chanting prayers and holding signs asking for an end to the killings in Tibet.

For the past two days, Nepalese police have dispersed similar rallies. The rallies are a show of support for Tibetans as reports emerge of violence in the Chinese-controlled Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Gundop Dorje was one of the protesters in Kathmandu.

"Absolutely Tibetans did nothing wrong, but now seriously Tibetans are suffering so much, we really need a clear answer from here, from [the] United Nations," Gundop Dorje

Shortly after the protest began, several mini-vans carrying riot police arrived on the scene. The police began to forcibly remove the protesters, striking them with bamboo sticks as they resisted by sitting on the ground.

Several protesters appeared to be injured, and police detained around 20 of them.

The police commander refused to comment on why he his men were ordered to attack the protesters.

As the Tibetans walked from the U.N. office to the local police station to ask for their friends' release, there were more scuffles with police.

Protesters gathered outside a police station, but the police refused to allow staff from the U.N.'s High Commissioner for Human Rights to check on the well-being of the detainees.

A United Nations spokesman later said the U.N. had not requested police action outside the organization's headquarters and is concerned about reports of excessive use of force.